Maxwell, a junior from Vidor, had been experiencing discomfort in his right elbow since the fall. An MRI taken in December did not show any structural damage; a more recent exam showed damage to the ulnar collateral ligament.

He left his last appearance Friday against Columbia after only two pitches.

The loss of Maxwell is a huge blow for the UH pitching staff. In three appearances, Maxwell was 2-0 and had not allowed a run with four strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings.

“It kills me I won’t be able to take the mound again this season, but I love this school, this team, and this game way too much to not be a part of this special season,” Maxwell posted on Instagram.

Whitting said Patrick Weigel, Jared Robinson and Seth Romero are candidates to fill the role, or the Cougars may go with a closer-by-committee approach.

“We’ve got to find somebody to step in that role,” Whitting said.

The Cougars, which dropped five spots to eighth in this year’s Baseball America poll, managed only five singles off Curtis Jones and Chris Garza in a 2-1 loss to Houston Baptist on Tuesday night. It was UH’s fifth loss in the last seven games.

The Cougars are also without third baseman Connor Hollis (broken hamate bone) and left fielder Michael Pyeatt (ankle). Hollis is expected to return in the next two weeks while Pyeatt is out indefinitely.

Hall of Fame college basketball coach Dean Smith, right, coached Michael Jordan at UNC during a career that lasted more than 40 years. Smith died at the age of 83 on Saturday night. (AP Photo/Pool, File)

With the Sunday morning news of legendary men’s college basketball coach Dean Smith’s death at the age of 83 the night before, an outpouring of support and remembrance followed from all corners of the sports world. First-year Houston Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson was one of many colleagues to offer his thoughts on the Hall of Famer.

Though UH, Sampson issued the following statement:

“I know I join the basketball world in mourning the passing of Coach Dean Smith. Growing up in North Carolina, I was immersed in North Carolina basketball, and it was God, my father and Coach Smith for me. He was my first basketball idol.

“My father was why I got into coaching, but Coach Smith influenced a generation of coaches like me from afar. The only thing I can say about Coach Smith is thank you.”

Smith, who in 1997 retired as the winningest coach in men’s Division I history with a record of 879-254, won two national titles at the University of North Carolina during a coaching career that spanned 40 years. He also led the United States to the gold medal at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.

National Signing Day 2015

At the start of his senior season, North Shore linebacker Emeke Egbule’s father had a business proposition. Every sack was worth $20.

Egbule set a North Shore singe-season sack record with 13½.

Total bill for the season: $270.

“He said it was the worst business decision he’s ever made,” UH defensive coordinator Todd Orlando said Wednesday after Egbule officially signed with the Cougars. “It cost him a lot of money.”

Waiver for Allen?:
New UH coach Tom Herman said the school is hopeful it will receive a waiver for wide receiver Chance Allen to play immediately this season. Allen, who played at Elkins, is a transfer from Oregon who enrolled at UH in January.

Herman said Allen “had some tough times at home” and needed to get closer to his family.
“Hopefully the NCAA will be gracious enough and merciful enough to understand his circumstances.”

Tight end U:
The tight end position has been foreign to the UH offense.

“We had zero (on scholarship),” Herman said. “Anything would have been more.”

The Cougars added three as part of this year’s signing class – Rusty Clark, a transfer from Pearl River (Miss.) Community College, Pearland’s Ryan Deshotel and Cedar Hill’s Kobe Idumwonyi.

“We’re going to play with a tight end this year,” Herman said. “Come one, come all. If you are a 6-4, 240-pound dude that likes to hit people somebody give them my number because we are taking them all.”

Set the alarm clock:
UH players have gone through 4:45 a.m. practices every day this week, including outside in 40-degree, rainy weather Wednesday.

“This morning’s workout was actually the culmination of three days of our team earning their way back into the locker room,” Herman said. “We had a few guys that might have decided, for whatever reason, to take advantage of the transition of coaching and try to toe the line a little bit in some areas, whether it be with workouts or classes. We wanted to see who really wanted to be part of the team. We didn’t have anybody miss. Everybody showed up.”

The signing day breakdown:
16 from Texas, 3 from Louisiana, 1 each from Mississippi and Wisconsin.

]]>http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2015/02/uh-report-north-shores-egbule-a-pricey-source-of-production-on-defense/feed/0Source: Ex-A&M assistant Pope added to UH staffhttp://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2015/01/source-ex-am-coach-pope-added-to-uh-staff/
http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2015/01/source-ex-am-coach-pope-added-to-uh-staff/#commentsFri, 09 Jan 2015 21:30:17 +0000http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/?p=47532Kenith Pope has been hired as running backs coach for Tom Herman’s staff at the University of Houston, a person with knowledge of the situation said Friday.

Pope’s coaching stops have included Texas A&M, Alabama and Iowa State, where he worked with Herman.

In his one season with the Cougars, Hammerschmidt helped to produce 1,000-yard rusher Kenneth Farrow.

Hammerschmidt, a former Houston Texans offensive assistant, handled the offensive play-calling against Pittsburgh in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl.

He becomes the fifth assistant from former head coach Tony Levine’s staff to land a job, joining David Gibbs and Zac Spavital (Texas Tech), Ricky Logo (Colorado State) and Jamie Christian (UNLV).

]]>http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2015/01/ex-cougars-assistant-hammerschmidt-lands-job/feed/0Cougars quarterback O’Korn granted permission to talk about transferhttp://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2015/01/cougars-quarterback-okorn-granted-permission-to-talk-about-transfer/
http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2015/01/cougars-quarterback-okorn-granted-permission-to-talk-about-transfer/#commentsThu, 08 Jan 2015 22:49:06 +0000http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/?p=47468Houston quarterback John O’Korn, whose struggles cost him the starting job at midseason, has been granted permission to speak to four schools about a possible transfer, a person with knowledge of the situation said Thursday.

One of the four schools is TCU, the person said on the condition of anonymity.

O’Korn, who just completed his sophomore season, has not been granted permission to transfer and none of the four schools on the list has presently expressed interest in the quarterback from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

O’Korn, the Cougars’ top recruit in 2013, has two years of eligibility remaining.

O’Korn struggled with turnovers early, throwing four interceptions in a season-opening loss to UTSA and eventually lost his starting job after five to Greg Ward Jr.

As a true freshman, O’Korn was named the American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year. He led all true freshman nationally with 28 touchdown passes and his 3,117 yards were the second-most by a freshman in school history.

The Cougars’ quarterback position is expected to be open when spring practice begins under first-year head coach Tom Herman.

Ward is considered the frontrunner after leading UH to six wins in the last eight games.

True freshman Bear Fenimore is the only other scholarship quarterback on the roster.

Hicks, the No. 2 rated passer at the Elite 11 camp last summer, signed a financial aid agreement with the Cougars in August.

Despite the firing of coach Tony Levine, Hicks told the Houston Chronicle last week that he is still committed to the Cougars but would listen to other schools “out of respect.” In the past week he has received offers from Texas Tech and SMU.

UH's 1st practice under Sampson

Forward Bertrand Nkali will undergo surgery for a sports hernia in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

“He’s done for the year,” coach Kelvin Sampson said after Monday’s practice.

Bertrand, a 6-8 transfer from Lee College, was expected to be the Cougars’ starting center to begin the season. He did not play in a game this season and will redshirt, meaning he still has two years eligibility remaining.

With the basketball season underway here are a few interesting nuggets from the five-year contract University of Houston men’s coach Kelvin Sampson signed this summer, obtained this week by the Houston Chronicle:

• After two seasons, Sampson is eligible for a two-year extension, if the university deems worthy.
• Sampson’s compensation package is worth $1.1 million annually. That includes a base salary of $550,000.
• At any time during the length of the contact the Cougars make the NCAA Tournament, Sampson will receive a one-time increase of $200,000 – $100,000 in base salary and $100,000 in non-salary compensation – for the remainder of the contract.
• If Sampson leaves UH for a coaching position at another university he must pay UH 85 percent of the total remaining base salary. If he leaves for a coaching or front office position in the NBA he must pay UH 50 percent of the total remaining base salary.
• In regards to academic performance, Sampson will receive bonuses of $7,500 if UH has an overall team GPA of 2.6 or higher; $10,000 for a 940 or above APR; and $10,000 for a team Graduation Success Rate of 60 percent or higher.
• Sampson will receive a $10,000 bonus if UH wins 22 or more regular season games (not counting conference tournament).
• A Top 25 national ranking (in the Associated Press or USA Today polls) at any point of the season is worth a $10,000 bonus. A final Top 25 ranking is worth $20,000.
• For coaching honors, Sampson will receive a $10,000 bonus for conference coach of the year and $20,000 for national coach of the year.
• A conference regular season title will earn Sampson a $10,000 bonus, $25,000 for a conference tournament title and escalator bonuses ranging from $10,000 for a first or second-round NCAA tournament win to $50,000 for a Final Four win and $150,000 for a national title.
• NIT appearance is worth a $5,000 bonus.

2014 UH football season

Through three games it’s no secret the running game has been non-existent for Houston.

“I don’t want to sound like a broken record because we haven’t done it well,” coach Tony Levine said.

The Cougars rank 113th out of 125 teams in rushing in Football Bowl Subdivision with an average 86.3 yards per game. In the two losses to UTSA and BYU, which UH fell behind big early and had to abandon the running game, the Cougars had combined minus-16 yards.
In an effort to kick-start the running game, Levine said the Cougars could look at using other personnel on runs, specifically wide receivers Greg Ward and Daniel Spencer or fullback Tyler McCloskey.

UH still remains committed to the backfield rotation of Kenneth Farrow and Ryan Jackson. Farrow had 130 of the Cougars’ 275 yards in a Week 2 win against Grambling State.

“We’ve got great confidence in Kenneth Farrow and Ryan Jackson,” Levine said. “It’s not an issue where you’ll see somebody take the field other than those two necessarily in a package personnel-wise they are in.”

Levine said the Cougars found out early against BYU “who or what they were trying to take away,” using aggressive linebackers and safeties to bottle up the run game.

“A run that looked like it was blocked up well was giving up two yards,” Levine said.

The commitment by BYU to stop the run opened up some things in play-action passing game, Levine said. Once down 23-0, UH went to the air and had only two rushing attempts in the second half.

“Going into this game (against UNLV) we have to be balanced,” Levine said. “If you can run the football it takes the pressure off you having to throw it.”